ETHAN'S POV
I found them before they found me.
Hidden behind the old oak tree near the botanical garden.
The afternoon sun was filtering through the dense canopy, casting long, fractured shadows across the stone pathway.
I hadn't come to interrupt.
Honestly...
I came to apologize.
Maybe I'd been too harsh on Ryker.
Maybe I should've listened before judging him.
Maybe I was just terrified of losing the one constant in my life, and I had lashed out like a child throwing a tantrum.
Instead...
I arrived just in time to hear the only words I never wanted to hear.
"I'll be your real girlfriend."
Silence.
My entire world went silent.
The distant hum of the campus traffic died out. The rustling of the leaves above stopped. Even the sound of my own breathing seemed to vanish into the
